Business

Bank of America is building its first branch in Lancaster County, opening in July just north of Carolina Commons shopping center along U.S. 521 in Indian Land.
The Indian Land location was selected in response to the exponential growth of the area, said Jennifer Darwin with corporate communications for the Charlotte-based financial giant.

The Goody’s department store in Lancaster Square Shopping Center will close up shop in October, so until then it’s sales galore.
The retail chain is owned by Stage Stores, a department store company based in Houston that also owns Bealls, Palais Royal and Peebles. Stage Stores bought Goody’s in 2009 after the retail chain filed for bankruptcy.
“As is common practice in the retail industry, Stage Stores reviews its store fleet on a regular basis and exits underperforming locations,” Stage Stores representative Kristen Whitman said.

Indian Land may be on its way to becoming home to a younger demographic, as the northern part of the county undergoes further development featuring more apartments, restaurants and employment opportunities.
“That really suits the millennials, the next generation, moving in,” said Dean Faile, president of the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce, describing how companies such as Movement Mortgage, Red Ventures and CompuCom are attracting younger employees with different, often IT-based, skill sets.

Due to concerns about sufficient emergency medical services and fire service, the Lancaster County Planning Commission has denied a developer’s request for rezoning.
Located along the eastern side of Old Hickory Road and north of Crestview Lane, the property includes approximately 76 acres. Lennar Carolinas applied to rezone the parcel from Rural Neighborhood District to Medium Density Residential District.

Cherri FlinnSC Works CHESTER – The first of three sequential neighborhood job fairs for Chester, Lancaster and York counties will kick off this Thursday at York Technical College in Chester.
The idea was born out of a desire to help people find jobs close to their home area and to grow their local community.

Rebecca Wilson didn’t know she liked to paint. When she started hosting painting classes to draw more traffic into her consignment shop in Kershaw, she stumbled upon her favorite hobby – and her next business venture.
“There was a girl who sold her paints in my store at the time. She was a Dixie Belle retailer,” Wilson said. “She showed me some tricks of the trade about the paint, and once I started painting furniture, I found that I loved it more than the painting parties.”

Yarborough Tractors & Equipment, founded in Indian Land in the 1940s, has moved south, relocating to U.S. 521 Bypass South between the Lancaster city limits and the Elgin community.
The business now occupies the former Shute Body Shop building near J&S Concrete. It opened there Feb. 4.
“The only things that’s changed are the address and phone number. Everything else is the same,” said business owner Tim Howie, who runs the tractor and equipment business with his son, Andrew Howie.

Jennifer RothakerDuke Energy Illumination
The setting: A gated community. The suspect: A retired police officer. The crime: Electricity theft.
Duke Energy investigators were skeptical at first. A well-off retired officer and a high-earning attorney – why would they steal? But they caught the former officer switching out his meter. Busted, he wrote a check on the spot for 18 months of stolen electricity.

KERSHAW – Kershaw business owners will get a 12-month reprieve on pending increases in the town’s business license fees.
The new rates were scheduled to take effect April 1, but have been postponed until April 1, 2020.
Kershaw Town Council unanimously approved the delay at Monday’s monthly meeting.
“Sometimes, I jump the gun,” said Town Administrator Mitch Lucas, noting that computer issues made it “more complicated than I thought” to put the fee increase into effect.

A 45-acre multiuse development that includes office space, retail stores and 264 apartment units will be built along U.S. 521 just south of Shelley Mullis Road in Indian Land.
After reviewing a conceptual site map at its Jan. 28 meeting, Lancaster County Council passed third reading of the Widewaters Land Co. zoning request that changes two tracts from general business to regional business, which will accommodate the multifamily housing units.
The vote was 6-1, with Terry Graham opposed.